5 Halloween Favorites To Watch If You're A Total Scaredy Cat

photo: courtesy 20th century fox

If your neighbors’ pumpkins and the abundance of candy in every grocery store was not enough to assure you, it is definitely spooky season. Halloween is sitting just around the corner and whether you are a young adult venturing into Halloween night without your parents or family for the first time, or you are well into womanhood and ready for your favorite Halloween tradition with friends, there is a good chance that a scary movie night is on your agenda.

Horror movies are a Halloween staple. Around this time of year, they are on every television channel and take over the Hollywood box office. Classic films such as The Amityville Horror and The Conjuring are playing on loop, and remakes of fan-favorites such as the 2018 Halloween remake that is out in movie theatres right now, are absolutely killing it. Now this all sounds festive and fun, unless of course you are a scaredy cat like myself and absolutely despise all things scary.

In life, i’m a pretty fearless girl. I am not put off by much and feel confident in saying that I am able to handle myself calmly in a bunch of different situations. When it comes to scary movies, however? Not so much. I am the first to jump, scream, hit a partner, or pull a pillow over my head, and that’s just during the opening credits.

As much as I adore cinema and television and everything that goes into making it, the combination of suspense, gore, and guts that composes much of horror films absolutely terrifies me. Just to get a clear picture of how low my scare threshold really is, just know that I can not watch an episode of The Walking Dead without at least a week’s worth of nightmares to follow. Yeah, it’s that bad and zombies, in particular, are my Kryptonite.

So, what do self-proclaimed “scaredy cats” like myself do on the inevitable Halloween Horror Night in with friends? Glad you asked. I refuse to let my fears hold me back, so instead, I bring my own list of full-proof Halloween favorites! This way, I can get involved in all the festivities and do not have to spend the night hiding behind my own hands. These are some of my favorite movie night suggestions for those who want more treats than tricks this Halloween:

Hocus Pocus

photo: courtesy walt disney pictures

If by some unexplainable means, you have yet to see the movie Hocus Pocus, here’s what you need to know. First of all, it’s not scary! Secondly, three witches are on a trek to find eternal youth when a young trick-or-treater falls right into their clutches. Then, hilarity ensues. Although Hocus Pocus is usually branded a film for children, spooky lovers of all ages will get a kick out of this Halloween classic.

A Quiet Place

photo: courtesy paramount pictures

A Quiet Place, released earlier in April of this year, is one of the most thrilling films I have ever seen, due to the fact that it includes no verbal dialogue whatsoever. In it, we follow a young family who is trying to survive a post-apocalyptic world in which noise is the ultimate enemy. Seemingly unavoidable sounds such as speaking, sneezing, and walking on creaky floors, are absolutely prohibited because they entice a predatory species of monsters that are quick to kill. The lack of dialogue builds an incredible amount of suspense, but the lack of screams certainly drops the scary meter down a few notches.

Stranger Things: Season 2

photo: courtesy netflix

Stranger Things has become a worldwide phenomenon. The Netflix original series is one of the most popular and well-awarded shows in the digital platform’s history. The story begins with the disappearance of a young boy who leaves behind his mother, brother, best friends, and a small community of people haunted by terrifying forces. Season 2 picks up right where we left all of these characters off and does not miss a beat! On a scary meter, this show sits pretty low on the scale, but the landmark series is still a horror favorite amongst viewers, including my scaredy-cat self.

Edward Scissorhands

photo: courtesy 20th century fox

Edward Scissorhands is a gorgeous and harrowing tale that centers a very isolated man as he tries to enter a new community. This transition is made much more difficult of course, by the fact that he has scissors for hands. The dark and twisted cinematic style will be perfect for a haunted movie night, but will elicit more tears than terror!

Scream

Photo: courtesy dimension films

The first movie in the Scream franchise came out in 1996 and was an instant success, even winning the MTV Movie of the Year award in 1997. In it, a ghost faced killer tortures a teenaged girl and her group of friends by using horror films as a twisted game. That’s right, this scary movie uses scary movies to weave a haunted tale. While this meta-scare would normally be enough for me to turn the channel, the wave of ‘90s nostalgia (by way of a young Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and more) that comes with the classic film, cuts the horror meter in half. Pull up Scream, and then Scream 2, 3, and 4, for a jam-packed night of fun!